In Schizosaccharomyces pombe, alcohol dehydrogenase 1 (Adh1) is an abundant zinc-requiring enzyme that catalyses the conversion of acetaldehyde to ethanol during fermentation. In a zinc-replete cell, adh1 is highly expressed. However, in zinc-limited cells, adh1 gene expression is repressed, and cells induce the expression of an alternative alcohol dehydrogenase encoded by the adh4 gene. In our...

BACKGROUND Hypoparathyroidism, deafness, and renal dysplasia (HDR) syndrome is a rare autosomal dominant disorder caused by mutations in the zinc finger transcription factor gene, GATA3. GATA3 has 2 zinc finger domains, which play an important role in the increase in target gene transcription activity. CASE PRESENTATION A 50-year-old woman and her 27-year-old daughter were followed up because...

Relief of procaspase inhibition enhances the potency of cancer chemotherapeutics Botham RC, Fan TM, Hergenrother PJ Manipulation of the apoptotic cascade is an effective and commonly employed strategy for the eradication of cancer cells. This work utilizes the small molecule PAC-1 to target the labile zinc pool, a physiological inhibitor of apoptosis. Labile zinc inhibits the conversion of proc...

Streptococcus pneumoniae requires manganese for colonization of the human host, but the underlying molecular basis for this requirement has not been elucidated. Recently, it was shown that zinc could compromise manganese uptake and that zinc levels increased during infection by S. pneumoniae in all the niches that it colonized. Here we show, by quantitative means, that extracellular zinc acts i...

Zinc is one of the essential transition metals in cells. Excess or lack of zinc is detrimental, and cells exploit highly sensitive zinc-binding regulators to achieve homeostasis. In this article, we present a crystal structure of active Zur from Streptomyces coelicolor with three zinc-binding sites (C-, M-, and D-sites). Mutations of the three sites differentially affected sporulation and trans...

Metallothionein (MT) has been used widely as a potential molecular marker to detect the deleterious effects of heavy metals in aquatic ecosystem. Here we exposed ayu, Plecoglossus altivelis, to zinc (Zn) and tested the distribution as well as the induction of MT in various tissues such as liver, kidney, intestine and stomach. MT induction was significant in liver tissue, followed by kidney and ...

All organisms are confronted with external variations in trace element abundance. To elucidate the mechanisms that maintain metal homeostasis and protect against heavy metal stress, we have determined the transcriptome responses in Drosophila to sublethal doses of cadmium, zinc, copper, as well as to copper depletion. Furthermore, we analyzed the transcriptome of a metal-responsive transcriptio...

BACKGROUND Ion transporters of the Slc30A- (ZnT-) family regulate zinc fluxes into sub-cellular compartments. beta-cells depend on zinc for both insulin crystallization and regulation of cell mass. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS This study examined: the effect of glucose and zinc chelation on ZnT gene and protein levels and apoptosis in beta-cells and pancreatic islets, the effects of ZnT-3 k...